Female Speakers

Cynthia Payne was born in Bognor on Christmas Eve 1932. She first hit the headlines in 1978 when the police raided her home in a pleasant tree-lined avenue in suburban Streatham to find a sex party in full swing.

Cynthia Payne was born in Bognor on Christmas Eve 1932. She first hit the headlines in 1978 when the police raided her home in a pleasant tree-lined avenue in suburban Streatham to find a sex party in full swing.

Queues of middle-aged and elderly men waited to exchange their luncheon vouchers for food and drink a friendly chat and striptease shows and a trip upstairs with the girl of their choice. Vicars and MPs and lawyers were among those who considered her the best hostess in London. When the case came to court in 1980 she was sent to prison for 18 months for running the biggest disorderly house in history but on appeal this was reduced to six months and a hefty fine for running a brothel.

She is now an accomplished after-dinner speaker and agony aunt and she has completed a three-week season at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where she played to packed houses.

Cynthia is also concerned about the quality of life in Streatham where she lives and hopes that she can draw attention to the problems and persuade local people to take a pride in the area and bring back the pleasure of living in Streatham.

Cynthia has no connection with any other party though politicians from both Labour and Conservative and others have taken up some of her ideas.

Her life has been depicted in the film Personal Services starring Julie Walters. Also her early life was dramatised in Wish You Were Here starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell.

She had her one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1992 which lasted for three weeks and played to packed audiences throughout.

She is a very experienced after-dinner speaker including one hour and a question and answer session.